Two of my Fieros don't have A/C. The vent/heat/defrost lever is hard to move from vent to heat on both cars.

Since it's the same on both cars, I presume it's 'normal'. Is there a way to make it easier to move the lever?

Mine was completely jammed in the defrost setting since I bought the car. So I guess it is a common occurrence. Unfortunately, when I stripped the interior / dash out of the car I never checked what was causing it to jam. Once I disconnected the cables, everything seemed to move smoothly. I'm going to replace the entire assembly with a modern, electronic system which will fit better with the build I'm doing and will solve the issue..

No... hard to move can break things.

The door have problems.
Something is catching on either/both ends.
Cable is bent too tight. Cables have minimum radius to work.
If control are lubed, old/dirty lube doesn't help. Brake grease or other plastic friendly lube is needed. (Cables don't get lube.)

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

The heater control doors were made with foam strips around the edges...and they come apart over the years and often fall off. Sometimes they jam the door.

It's not like something is stuck; it seems like a lot of pressure is needed to overcome the initial resistance to moving the lever. As if the mechanical advantage isn't enough. Once it's moved from the full left vent position, it's not hard to move...

I had something similar with my temp control slider (it sounds like you have a non AC car?); the cable was binding. Pulled out the HVAC control, found what it was binding on and that was that. Compared to a lot of cars, removing even large chunks of the interior is not hard. Once you get eyes on what's going on, it's no longer a guessing game.

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-Chris
'85 V6 SE 4sp (SOLD)
'88 GT - Series 3 SC3800 w/ 3.5" pulley, 1.8" rockers, 3" exhaust, 3.5" intake, 3.29 gearing. Installed and tuned by Sinister Performance
'99 Kawasaki Vulcan 500, owned since new
'09 G37x Sedan w/ Premium & Nav (wife's car)
'13 G37xS Sedan (new daily driver)
'14 Yamaha FJR - 0-60 in 2.8s w/ 34MPG!!!

I get heat at my feet if I turn on the cabin fan, even if I have heat turned off. ('85 Fiero SE w/o A/C). Shop says the vents/dampers are jammed making heat come into the cabin, and that this requires removing the whole dash and that this is something they cannot tackle. Am desperate because the car is just too hot and I'll have to sell it if I can't get it fixed. This all started with Vent/Heat/Defrost levers being hard to move. Possibly I broke something when pushing them.
Do you think this is something a repair shop should be able to fix?

quote Originally posted by janeintoronto: Do you think this is something a repair shop should be able to fix?

Not your average repair shop....but if you find an old one that works on '80s cars you may get lucky.